Asoka Mehta

Who was Asoka Mehta?

Asoka Mehta was an Indian freedom fighter and socialist politician. He helped organize the socialist wing of the Indian National Congress, along with Jaya Prakash Narayan, and was heavily involved in the politics and government of the western city of Bombay.

Mehta was arrested during the Quit India movement, and after India's independence, helped organize trade unions in Bombay. He also served as Mayor of Bombay city from 1946 to 1947. Mehta retired from active politics in the early 1950s, and wrote several books on his experiences, on India's freedom struggle and the importance of socialist reforms.

In September,1952 the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party and the Socialist Party merged to form the Praja Socialist Party and Asoka Mehta became its general secretary. He was a founding member of the first Governing Body of NCAER, the National Council of Applied Economic Research in New Delhi,India’s first independent economic policy institute established in 1956. He was PSP's president during 1959-1963. In 1963, he agreed to become deputy chairman of the Planning Commission and after the expulsion from the party in 1964, he joined Indian National Congress.